Software Deployment

You can check out the blog I created on this, it's relatively straightforward. It also shows you how to replace the taskbar.

https://www.itninja.com/blog/view/import-startlayout-kace-sda

I copy the administrators profile to default when I sysprep so that will bring settings in the profile down. also you can pin 3 items to the task bar during sysprep

<component name="Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
            <TaskbarLinks>
                <Link0>%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Mozilla Firefox.lnk</Link0>
                <Link1>%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Google Chrome.lnk</Link1>
                <Link2>%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\internet explorer.lnk</Link2>
            </TaskbarLinks>
            <DoNotCleanTaskBar>true</DoNotCleanTaskBar>
            <CopyProfile>true</CopyProfile>
            <ProductKey>NPPR9-FWDCX-D2C8J-H872K-2YT43</ProductKey>
            <EnableStartMenu>true</EnableStartMenu>
            <ComputerName>*</ComputerName>
        </component>

Just prior to sysprep I run a powershell comand to create a file I reimport as a mid level task

Export-Startlayout -path c:\temp\layout.xml

and run this to export app assoc

Dism /Online /Export-DefaultAppAssociations:c:\temp\AppAssoc.xml

at the mid level

powershell task

Import-StartLayout -LayoutPath "c:\temp\Layout.xml" -MountPath "C:\"

batch task

dism /image:c:\ /Import-DefaultAppAssociations:c:\temp\AppAssoc.xml
exit /b 0

If you want to  add other tiles to all users pinned tiles you can run this as a post script

start /wait reg load HKU\temphive c:\users\default\ntuser.dat

start /wait reg add "HKU\temphive\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce" /v powerpin /d "C:\WINDOWS\system32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File "C:\windows\w2d\pin.ps1"" /f

start /wait reg unload HKU\temphive

pin.ps1

(New-Object -ComObject shell.application).Namespace('C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office16\').parsename('excel.exe').invokeverb('pintostartscreen')

(New-Object -ComObject shell.application).Namespace('C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office16\').parsename('powerpnt.exe').invokeverb('pintostartscreen')

(New-Object -ComObject shell.application).Namespace('C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office16\').parsename('winword.exe').invokeverb('pintostartscreen')

You can run the ps1 on a per user basis on existing machines to add tiles for them

Are you placing the file in C:\Users\Default\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\LayoutModification.xml? Is it still there after imaging? If you are copying a profile to the default user profile as part of sysprep, then you probably need to put the file back in place afterwards.

From the different suggestions, I was able to get my Start Menu and taskbar working finally.  I have it setup as a Post Install Task.

StartTaskLayout.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LayoutModificationTemplate
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/Start/2014/LayoutModification"
xmlns:defaultlayout="http://schemas.microsoft.com/Start/2014/FullDefaultLayout"
xmlns:start="http://schemas.microsoft.com/Start/2014/StartLayout"
xmlns:taskbar="http://schemas.microsoft.com/Start/2014/TaskbarLayout"
Version="1">
<LayoutOptions StartTileGroupCellWidth="6" StartTileGroupsColumnCount="1" />
  <DefaultLayoutOverride>
    <StartLayoutCollection>
      <defaultlayout:StartLayout GroupCellWidth="6">
        <start:Group Name="Explore">
          <start:DesktopApplicationTile Size="2x2" Column="0" Row="0" DesktopApplicationLinkPath="%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Firefox.lnk" />
          <start:Tile Size="2x2" Column="4" Row="0" AppUserModelID="Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge_8wekyb3d8bbwe!MicrosoftEdge" />
          <start:DesktopApplicationTile Size="2x2" Column="2" Row="0" DesktopApplicationLinkPath="%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Google Chrome.lnk" />
        </start:Group>
        <start:Group Name="Microsoft Office">
          <start:DesktopApplicationTile Size="2x2" Column="4" Row="0" DesktopApplicationLinkPath="%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\PowerPoint.lnk" />
          <start:DesktopApplicationTile Size="2x2" Column="0" Row="0" DesktopApplicationLinkPath="%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Excel.lnk" />
          <start:DesktopApplicationTile Size="2x2" Column="2" Row="2" DesktopApplicationLinkPath="%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Word.lnk" />
          <start:DesktopApplicationTile Size="2x2" Column="0" Row="2" DesktopApplicationLinkPath="%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Publisher.lnk" />
          <start:DesktopApplicationTile Size="2x2" Column="2" Row="0" DesktopApplicationLinkPath="%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\OneNote 2016.lnk" />
        </start:Group>
        <start:Group Name="AU Services">
          <start:DesktopApplicationTile Size="2x2" Column="0" Row="0" DesktopApplicationLinkPath="%APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Facilities Work Order System.website" />
          <start:DesktopApplicationTile Size="2x2" Column="4" Row="0" DesktopApplicationLinkPath="%APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\IT Service Ticket System.website" />
          <start:DesktopApplicationTile Size="2x2" Column="2" Row="0" DesktopApplicationLinkPath="%APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\IT Knowledgebase Articles.website" />
          <start:DesktopApplicationTile Size="2x2" Column="0" Row="2" DesktopApplicationLinkPath="%APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Display IP Address.lnk" />
        </start:Group>
      </defaultlayout:StartLayout>
    </StartLayoutCollection>
  </DefaultLayoutOverride>
  <CustomTaskbarLayoutCollection PinListPlacement="Replace">
    <defaultlayout:TaskbarLayout>
        <taskbar:TaskbarPinList>
            <taskbar:DesktopApp DesktopApplicationLinkPath="%APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\System Tools\File Explorer.lnk" />
            <taskbar:DesktopApp DesktopApplicationLinkPath="%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Firefox.lnk" />
            <taskbar:DesktopApp DesktopApplicationLinkPath="%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Google Chrome.lnk" />
            <taskbar:DesktopApp DesktopApplicationLinkPath="%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\VideoLAN\VLC media player.lnk" />
        </taskbar:TaskbarPinList>
    </defaultlayout:TaskbarLayout>
    </CustomTaskbarLayoutCollection>
</LayoutModificationTemplate>

Import_StartTaskLayout.ps1

Import-StartLayout -LayoutPath "$PSScriptRoot\StartTaskLayout.xml" -MountPath C:\

Import_StartTaskLayout.bat

@ECHO OFF
PowerShell.exe -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File "%~dp0import_StartTaskLayout.ps1"

I had to write the batch to call the PowerShell script because I kept getting a file not found with the PowerShell script by itself.

Details that helped me in the XML file:

Using the LayoutOptions StartTileGroupCellWidth="6" StartTileGroupsColumnCount="1"  to get it to one column and 3 medium tiles across

Using CustomTaskbarLayoutCollection PinListPlacement="Replace" to clear out the taskbar items and replace them with our chosen ones.